EUGENE, Ore.
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The 44,129 fans on hand to witness the University of Oregon's football Spring
Game Saturday did not signify the only record established in Autzen Stadium
last weekend as Mighty Oregon outlasted the Fighting Ducks in the spring's last
of 15 practices, 41-14.

While
admission for the intrasquad scrimmage required a donation of three
non-perishable food items that would be forwarded to FOOD for Lane County, the
results netted 72,537 pounds of food and $1,192.59 donated to the local food
bank. That compares to an accumulation in excess of 68,000 pounds of food and
approximately $1,200 from last year's previous record-crowd of 43,468 fans.

Alicia
Hines, food resource developer for FOOD for Lane County, estimated that the
proceeds collected from the Spring Game would enable the food bank to provide
60,248 meals for those in need. It also is reportedly a record for food
donations to the local agency in a three-hour span.

"We
are appreciative to the University of Oregon for continuing to allow us to use
food donations as admission to the Spring Game," Hines said. "It is a very
powerful experience to watch over 70,000 pounds of food donations accumulated
in just a few short hours, knowing all of the struggling families that will be
able to benefit from this food."

Hines
added that this event has evolved to become the agency's second-largest annual
source of food donations, trailing only the U.S. Postal system's Letter
Carrier's food drive which takes place twice a year.

The
University of Oregon donated more than 600,000 pounds of perishable and
non-perishable food to FOOD for Lane County during the past calendar year,
according to Deb McGeorge, food resource manager for the local food bank, with
much of the donations coming from athletic department venues, surplus foods not
used to feed University student-athletes, banquets, concessions, dorms and EMU
food outlets.

In
addition to food collected at the Ducks' annual Spring Game, food drives have
been incorporated into events at Matthew Knight Arena in addition to free
general admission tickets donated to the food rescue program to be distributed
to low income and homeless members of the community who might not have been
otherwise able to attend.